I was approached at one of our recent concerts by a young man whose exposure to Jazz has mainly come from listening to “Smooth Jazz” radio. He had played saxophone in his high school band and was curious about the saxophone innovators of modern jazz and asked me to recommend some saxophone players for him to listen to. This reminded me how little exposure, outside of a college music appreciation class, today’s audiences get to our music. There is a huge list of masterful jazz saxophonists today and throughout jazz history. So, I’m limiting my list to just those players believed by most jazz saxophonists and historians to have the greatest influence on their peers and, in some cases, had a far reaching affect on the music. The decade of the 1930’s brought the innovative and contrasting styles and sounds of tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. The big sound and extroverted style of Coleman Hawkins offered a dynamic contrast to the more subtle, melodic style of Lester Young. Their influences can still be heard in the recordings of Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz. Alto saxophonist, Charlie Parker, not only affected the styles of his peers but changed the direction of jazz, impacting the entire musical vocabulary. Tenor saxophonist, John Coltrane, whose personal style and approach went through several evolutions, has also had a great impact on modern jazz. These masters, along with saxophonist, Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker have had profound and far reaching affects on the music we listen today.Please feel free to tell us about your favorite players and/or recordings!!!! Dan Bonsanti